Columbia Natural Resources Inventory

The City of Columbia Natural Resources Inventory is a compilation of data, descriptions, and maps to document the natural resources of a given geographic area. The collected data serves as a baseline reference condition to understand change against future data, observation, and research. The goal for the NRI is to provide all of the data and imagery in an on-line mapping application for public viewing and use.

The NRI area covers the Metropolitan Planning Area defined by the Columbia Area Transportation Study Organization (CATSO), which is the local metropolitan planning organization. The information contained in the Natural Resources Inventory document has been compiled from a host of public sources. The primary data focus of the NRI has been on land cover and tree canopy, which are the product of the classification work completed by the University of Missouri Geographic Resource Center using 2007 imagery acquired for this project by the City of Columbia.

The NRI uses the area’s watersheds as the geographic basis for the data inventory. Landscape features cataloged include slopes, streams, soils, and vegetation. The impacts of regulations that manage the landscape and natural resources have been cataloged; including the characteristics of the built environment and the relationship to undeveloped property.

Planning Level of Detail

NRI data is designed to support planning and policy level analysis. Not all the geographic data created for the Natural Resources Inventory can be used for accurate parcel level mapping. The goal is to produce seamless datasets with a spatial quality to support parcel level mapping to apply NRI data to identify individual property impacts.

Maps

Land Cover MapA map showing the land cover for the NRI area from 2007
showing tree canopy, grasses, impervious surfaces, crop land, and
barren and disturbed areas

Tree Associations MapA map of the tree species associations for the NRI
area showing the locations and extents of the oak-hickory-maple and
other tree associations.

Report

The following document is being circulated for review by the City of Columbia's Vision Commission, Energy & Environment Commission, Planning & Zoning Commission, and the Parks & Recreation Commission.